Longer consultations, increasingly complex patients and an expanding scope of care are putting pressure on general practice, despite improvements in GP satisfaction and patient access, the RACGP's Health of the Nation report reveals.
Australian GPs are spending more time with patients and increasingly managing conditions traditionally treated by specialists and hospitals, prompting renewed calls for Medicare funding to reflect the growing complexity of general practice.
The RACGP’s 2026 Health of the Nation report, released today, reveals that 72% of GPs identify increasing patient complexity as their biggest challenge, while two-thirds say they are spending longer with patients than in previous years.
The findings, which mark a decade of the college’s annual report, paint a picture of a profession taking on greater clinical responsibility while struggling with funding arrangements that have failed to keep pace.
Almost nine in 10 GPs (89%) reported managing conditions typically treated by non-GP specialists, while 76% said they were managing conditions usually treated in hospital emergency departments or urgent care clinics.
RACGP president Dr Michael Wright said the figures demonstrated the increasingly comprehensive role of general practice.
“We’re managing more chronic disease, more mental health concerns, more multi-morbidity and more conditions that have traditionally been treated elsewhere in hospitals and by non-GP specialists,” he said.
“That reflects the breadth and depth of modern general practice. GPs are providing more comprehensive care than ever before and helping patients navigate an increasingly complex healthcare system.”
The average GP consultation has increased from 17.7 minutes in 2022 to 19.8 minutes in 2026, representing a rise of approximately 12% over four years.
Among GPs reporting longer consultations, 49% attributed the increase to more complex patient presentations, 48% to the growing complexity of the care they provided and 41% to increased mental health presentations.
More than a quarter also identified additional preventive healthcare as a reason for spending longer with patients.
Psychological presentations remain the leading reason patients seek GP care, nominated by 67% of surveyed GPs, followed by endocrine and metabolic conditions (37%), musculoskeletal presentations (36%) and women’s health (35%).
Dr Wright said longer appointments were essential for managing patients with multiple and chronic conditions, but Medicare rebates did not adequately recognise the additional work involved.
“Longer consultations allow GPs to manage multiple conditions, coordinate care, support prevention and address complex health issues that simply can’t be resolved in a brief appointment,” he said.
“The challenge is that the Medicare system has not kept pace with the realities of modern general practice and funding does not adequately support the time required to provide the care patients need.”
The report highlights the mismatch between consultation length and remuneration, noting that the Medicare patient rebate is the same for a six-minute consultation as for one lasting 19 minutes.
The RACGP has renewed its call for a 40% increase in Medicare patient rebates for longer consultations to better support patients with complex and chronic conditions.
It has also sought an expansion of health assessment MBS items to additional patient groups and the establishment of an independent primary care pricing authority.
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Despite mounting clinical demands, the report identifies several encouraging signs for the profession.
GP job satisfaction increased from 71% in 2025 to 76% in 2026, while the proportion reporting a good work-life balance rose from 47% to 56%.
More GPs are also willing to recommend general practice as a career, with the proportion increasing from 47% to 54%.
However, workforce sustainability remained a concern, the report revealed.
Around one-third of practising GPs expect to stop practising within the next five years, while 60% reported experiencing burnout during the previous 12 months.
The findings suggest that improvements in professional sentiment have not eliminated the pressures associated with increasingly demanding clinical workloads.
Patient access has also improved, with 99% of Australians reporting they could see a GP when needed in 2024-25.
The proportion of patients always able to see their preferred GP increased from 63.7% in 2023-24 to 67.2% in 2024-25.
Meanwhile, the average proportion of patients bulk billed for all their GP visits increased to 63% in 2026, up from 56% in both 2024 and 2025.
The report suggests recent government investment in Medicare bulk-billing incentives has contributed to the improvement.
In 2024-25, the Australian Government invested $13.4 billion in GP services, with average expenditure on general practice increasing from $469 to $489 per person.
But the RACGP has argued that greater investment was needed to sustain the expanding role of general practice, particularly as GPs increasingly managed conditions that might otherwise require hospital or specialist care.
The report also highlighted ongoing problems with fragmented healthcare, with 53% of GPs identifying better communication and information sharing as the most important factor in improving coordination across the health system.
Dr Wright said governments had recognised the need for healthcare professionals to work at the top of their scope, but federal funding arrangements needed to catch up.
“State governments appear to be starting to recognising the value of GPs in keeping people off their lengthy waiting lists,” he said.
“It’s now time for the federal government to address the issue.”
The report drew on a national survey conducted between 10 April and 3 May 2026, including responses from 2766 practising GPs, alongside government and other health sector data.
Dr Wright said the findings reinforced the need to recognise general practice as a critical investment in the wider health system.
“Strong general practice means better patient outcomes, less pressure on hospitals and lower healthcare costs over time,” he said.
“There is no substitute for the care patients receive from a trusted specialist GP who knows them and their history.”
